Atwater

Marc B in Argentina

Mike Quilliam — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:48:00 +0000

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
-J.R.R. Tolken

I’ve been wandering now for more than 7 years. As day three of our South
American journey is coming to an end, the light of the snow-capped Andes and
into our window is being replaced by the yellow glow of the fire. It’s
becoming clear as I get older that my life’s journey has just begun. As time
passes, life has a way of mellowing you out. I think that’s why people get
quieter as they age.

Travelling fast forwards maturity. I’m not saying I’m mature,I love being
immature and having fun. But I’ve noticed that when I’m traveling I go
through life-changing experiences every couple days. Staying in one place
breeds a closed mind, a naïve nature, and a slow pace of maturity, at least
for me. I’ve noticed that the times of growth in my life have involved
massive amounts of moving around, touring and traveling. Likewise, my least
productive times have been during months of staying put. This is exactly
why I chose to make the 7,791 mile journey from L.A. to San Carlos de
Bariloche, in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

The Patagonia region of Argentina is one of the most harsh, frigid, remote
climates in the world. Our village lies further south than the entire
continent of Africa. Further south than Tasmania. Dubbed the “Switzerland
of South America,” San Carlos de Bariloche is a quaint little town of less
than 200,000 people known for its snowboarding. It’s a stopping point for
budding boarders and touring professionals alike. For the rest of August and
into September, I’ll be snowboarding, playing live performances, and of
course, building the Greenhouse. Tomorrow we begin building. I’ll keep
you posted. Blog three is coming, so stay put.

But not for long. Travel. Do it. Go.

-Marc

The Jamie Sterling Prize pack winner

Mike Quilliam — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:26:30 +0000

A few weeks back Surfer Magazine had a contest for some lucky reader to win a Mega prize pack from Jamie Sterlings sponsors. Well it seems that one of our boys on the east coast knows the winner and sent me over a picture of this lucky winner Bradford Andrews from Charleston. Bradford has enough wax for a lifetime of surfing and enough Red Bull for a month if hes anything like me.

Luke Ditella reaping the rewards of Hurricane Danielle

Mike Quilliam — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:15:18 +0000

The east coast hasn’t gotten many good swells from what I’ve heard this summer but thats all changing with Hurricane Danielle popping up. Heres a shot from Transworld about some of the New Jersey boys enjoying a little Hurricane D including Atwaters Luke Ditella

The Final day of the 2010 ECSC

Mike Quilliam — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:44:18 +0000

Today was the last day of this years ECSC and what a time it was. We were all worn down by a week in Virginia Beach but we pulled through it today and placed our mark on every person that walked by the Atwater tent. This was a great event which had thousands and thousands of people attending. We want to thank D and Ben at Coastal Edge for giving us this opportunity to be a part of this years event again and for the free lunch we got today. Atwater has made its mark on Virginia Beach once again. Can’t wait till next year!!

Day 4 ECSC

Mike Quilliam — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:47:38 +0000

Day 4 was a wild one out here at the ECSC. We walked up this morning and the Moto guys were all flying through the air doing back flips and what not which was super cool since it was literally out the back of our booth. We went through about 450 fans today since the weather was a little warmer and people were doing all they could to beat the heat. Scott and Jake both had their heats today and took 2nd and 1st respectively but the contest isn’t over and chances are they will probably be fighting for first place tomorrow.

Jake and Scott in our tent

Whos behind the mask

Why its Devin Briggs

Atwater popping up all over the place

Revenge, sweet revenge

ECSC Day 3

Mike Quilliam — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:10:02 +0000

Day 3 of the ECSC was even better than the first 2. We had a great day with a huge turnout in Virginia Beach. John McDanel swung by for a bit to wave the Atwater flag and help us out with some stamping. Tomorrow we have the start of the pro portion of the ECSC with Jake and Scott both entered so it looks like Atwater will be taking home a 1st and 2nd place in this years ECSC.

ECSC Day 2

Mike Quilliam — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:48:13 +0000

So day 2 of the ECSC was a little more hectic than the first. We again had our Virginia Beach Street Team there on hand to help out in the booth during the day which helped out in the heat. They got the FMX jumps set up today which they are going to be jumping tomorrow. We got 3 more days of this so stay posted to tomorrows updates.

Jack got iced by the Spy Optics folks. There will be revenge.

ECSC Day 1

Mike Quilliam — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:38:56 +0000

Today was day 1 of the ECSC. The weather turned pretty nice at around 1 or 2 when the sun peaked out. Great turnout today and it was just a Wed so we are looking forward to the next 4 days and hundreds of thousands of people coming our way. We had our VB Atwater street team in full effect and will have them back all week to help out at the booth. Keep coming back for more.

Jamie Sterlings Great Lake’s Adventure

Mike Quilliam — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:09:30 +0000

I just finished a week long adventure in the Midwest. I was flying all over the Great Lakes doing recon for a Red project called “New Wave”. We utilized John Shoffner’s Gunmen Albatross Red Bull branded Sea plane. I never knew the Great Lakes had waves. After flying 25.2hrs, and 3528 nautical miles I’ve come to the conclusion that the mid west has some nice setups for surfing. I’ve always been curious about the Great Lakes of North America. Some of the setups out on the vast Lakes looked like Tahitian reef passes. No the waves were not tubing like Teahupo’o but the water was crystal clear and the waves were rolling in with uniformity. We didn’t expect to get waves on this trip. This first expedition purpose was to only look around and plot GPS coordinates. We did plenty of searching and scored a little out of season swell that I stand up paddled. The locals greeted us with open arms and welcomed us back anytime. The private flights on the Red Bull Albatross were mind blowing. Talk about a high end adventure. VIP….Thank you RED BULL!

I’ll be coming back to the Great Lakes in the middle of winter on the next big Northeastern storm. Yes parts of the lake will be frozen and I’ll be bundled up in snow gear. Why, because I live for the adventure and the water is fresh.

P.S. Water landing’s rule! Its so smooth to land on a silky lake…John Shoffner thanks for flying the plane and making it a smooth flight!

Aloha,

Jamie Sterling
Photo: Brian Nevins

Photo: Brian Nevins

Photo: Brian Nevins

Photo: Brian Nevins

The Road to the ECSC

Mike Quilliam — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:28:41 +0000

So Sunday night I left to catch the red eye out to New Jersey and drive down to Virginia Beach with our North East Sales Rep Jack Laird. Heres a few shots from today on the journey from west to east and south.

Today was a rainy and windy day in Jersey

The Legendary Stone Pony

Jen Garby at Lightly Salted was watching the wind blow over the sand castles get blown around

My first Pork Roll Sandwhich

We took the ferry from New Jersey to Deleware

This was Deleware or Maryland I’m not sure.